NEW plaques will be created at Prestonpans War Memorial to recognise those who gave their lives during conflicts.

A partnership between the local area partnership and the town’s community council has been in place for the last two years to restore the war memorial (pictured left).

Now, a planning application is with East Lothian Council to see further improvements made to the memorial.

Research carried out by the community council has identified local people who died during the First and Second World Wars and are not currently commemorated locally.

Stone plaques are planned to commemorate the fallen, with the community council keen to see the site become a focal point of High Street, hosting events and markets.

DJ Johnston-Smith, from the town’s community council, has been researching to see if there are names to be added.

He estimated there could be dozens of men from the First World War, as well as a woman from the Second World War.

He described the research as “very laborious” and highlighted there could be a number of reasons for people’s names being left off of the memorial.

That included miners working in the area whose families perhaps lived elsewhere in the country.

Mr Johnston-Smith added that “without a time machine it is impossible” to find out why some people were left off.

Supported by the Scottish Government’s Town Centre Fund and following a design competition that involved representatives from the community council and the Royal British Legion, Rankin Fraser Landscape Architects has been appointed by the council to oversee the project. It aims to improve the setting of the memorial by repairing the surrounding walls, renewing paving and improving seating, and providing new space for commemoration and local heritage interpretation. The proposals also include the removal of the 1950s viewing platform in favour of new openings in the existing walls so views of the Forth can be accessed by anyone.

Names have been added to Dunbar War Memorial in recent years.